Strip-inserting method and apparatus for chain link fences

ABSTRACT

This disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for inserting elongated strips of aluminum which may be of various colors into channels defined by the chain mesh structure of chain link fences to thereby greatly enhance the beauty of the fences and also provide a windbreak and block visibility if desired. The method involves continuously urging one or more elongated strips into the formed channels in the fence in a very rapid manner. The apparatus for carrying out the method contemplates a pair of rollers powered by an electric motor, one or more strips being simultaneously fed between the rollers directly into the channels of the chain link fence.

United States Patent [72] lnventor John ,I. Lambert 7265 W. 83rd St., Los Angeles, Calif. 90045 [21] Appl. No. 871,182 [22] Filed Sept. 10, 1969 Division of Ser. No. 638.242. May 15, 1967. Patent No. 3,513,532 [45] Patented Aug. 3, 1971 [54] STRIP-INSERTING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CHAIN LINK FENCES 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[52] 11.8. 226/109, 226/187, 226/177, 226/91 [51] Int. Cl B65h 17/20 [50] Field otSearch 226/177, 187,191,109, 91,181

[56] Relereuees Cited UNIT ED STATES PATENTS 1,258,706 3/1918 Porath 226/177 X 2,525,590 10/1950 Collins 226/177 2,738,053 3/1956 Leston et a1. 226/177 X 3,338,495 8/1967 LaMotte 226/187 X 3,462,054 8/1969 Foor 226/91 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,221,648 6/1960 France 226/187 Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles Anomey-Pastoriza & Kelly ABSTRACT: This disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for inserting elongated strips of aluminum which may STRIP-INSERTING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CHAIN LINK FENCES and apsidentially and commercially. All such fences are fairly standard in construction and employ a heavy gauge wire mesh'so tied together as to define elongated parallel channels between various portions of the wire.

Normally, chain link fences, while extremely practical. and economical, are not always attractive, particularly when employed for tennis courts, protecting home pools,'and the like.

in addition, because of the wire mesh employed, they are ineffective as windbreaks or for blocking vision.

It has been found as a consequence of the unique and standard construction of the fence itself, that the elongated channels defined by the wire mesh can be easily employed to support thin elongated metallic strips. The provision of such strips not only greatly enhances the beauty of the chain link fence, but also serves as a windbreak. Further, normal vision through the fence at any appreciable distance is blocked.

The strips themselves may constitute aluminum, anodized in I v desired colors such as to enable a very attractive fence to result when the same are inserted in an already existing chain link fence.

While the various channels in the chain link fence defined by the wire mesh are straight and fairly uniform, it is still a time-consuming and arduous task to insert the strips into the fence. There is little doubt that the high labor cost to so modify a chain link fence is largely responsible for the limited use of such stripping in chain link fences up to the present time.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel methodand apparatus for inserting elongated strips in chain link fences all to the end that the labor involved in so modifying chain link fences is substantially reduced.

More particularly, it is an object to provide a system for inserting strips in chain link fences wherein several strips maybe simultaneously inserted at a high rate of speed in prefabricated fence sections prior to installing the fences such that improved fencing can be provided without substantial increase in cost over conventional chain link fencing.

Briefly, these and other objects and advantages of this invention are attained by initially positioning the free ends of one or more strips in the initial openings 'of the channels defined by the chain mesh of the fence, and then exerting a frictional force on the strips feeding the sameinto the channels at a high rate of speed.

A preferred apparatus for carrying out the above operation constitutes first and second rollers mounted with their axes in spaced parallel relationship in such a manner that thebe pressed radially inwardly to receive one or more strips therebetween. The mounting means. for the rollers includes adjustable means enabling the spacing between the-rolleraxes to be varied and thereby enable variation of the frictional force exerted on the strips fedbetween the rollers. A motor is' provided for rotating one of the rollers at a fairly high speed sucltthat the strips received between the rollers are fed out ina desired direction to'bereceived inthe chain link fence channels.

A better understanding of the invention as well as further features and advantages thereof will be had by now referring to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

taken in the fence in accord with the invention; and,

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view partly in cross section of the apparatus of FIG. 3.

Referring first to FIG. 1, there is designated generally by the numeral 10 a chain link fence which'may be of standard construction. As shown, the fence may include supporting posts periodically positioned such as indicated at 1 1 and 12.

As shown, the chain link fence "itself is comprised of heavy gauge wires which are twisted into a pattern such that a plurality of diamond-shaped openings, preferably square, are defined. Essentially, when the fence'is viewed as illustrated in H6. 1, a first series of wires such as 13 appears to slope in a first direction at substantially 45 and a second series of wires such as 14 appears to slope in an opposite direction at 45 to form substantially angles with the first wires 13. The wires are tied together at their crossover points such as at 15 and it is to be understood that portions of the wires are also tied to the fenceposts 11 and 12 as necessary to provide proper support. 1 v

The wire mesh configuration as described with respect to P16. 1 is standard for most chain link fences and is such as to definea series of parallel, horizontal channels between various ones of the wires and rows of crossover points. These channels in turn admirably function to support elongated strips such as indicated at 16, l7, l8, and 19 in FIG. 1.

The foregoing will be better understood by reference to H6. 2 which illustrates one of the channels 20 defined between portions of the slanting wires 13 and 14 and their crossover points as at 15. The top strip 16 is shown in'cross section in FIG. 2, received in this channel.

As mentioned heretofore, any modification of chain link fences effected in the past by means of such strips has been achieved by manually inserting the various strips in the channels by more or less threading the same through. The strips themselves are relatively flexible and if care is not exercised in feeding the same into the channels, even though the channels are relatively straight, some difficulty is experienced. This difficulty is believed primarily a result of the fact that manual labor is employed to insert the strips wherein a uniform urging force in feeding the strips into the channel cannot readily be achieved. The result is that the strip-tends to buckle at certain points or otherwise flop in a manner rendering inserting dift'rcult. Also, it is difficult for a person to actually hold the strip in avertical' plane while attempting to insert the same.

in accord with the present invention, there is provided an apparatusfor'facilitating the insertion of these strips whereby the same may be effected substantially automatically and at a high' rateof speed. This apparatus is depicted scheman'cally in FIG. 3 wherein there is illustrated a portion of the chain link fence to prior to being erected at a desired site. The inserting apparatus itself is indicated generally by the numeral 21 and functions to feed a plurality of strips such as the strips 16, 17, 18, and 19 from suitable supply reels respectively indicated at 22, 23, 24, and 25, into corresponding channels in the fence 10.

in the schematic showing in FIG. 3, it will be evident that ing the roller 27 at a desired rate of speed. The motor 28 is carried on the lower plate 26 which in .tum is arranged to ride on a track means 29 such that the plate can move in a side-toside direction normal to the direction in which the strips are fed from the apparatus.

The structure includes an upper plate 30 in spaced parallel relationship to the lower plate 26. The upper plate 30 rotatably supports an upper roller 31 whose axis is in spaced parallel relationship to the axis of the roller 27 as will be evident from the drawing.

The lower and upper plates 26 and 30 are held in a desired position by means of vertical rods 32, 33, 34, and 35. Additional rods may be provided in the event very elongated rollers are used such as illustrated in FIG. 3.

With particular reference to FIG. 4, it will be noted that the rods such as 32 and 33 extend upwardly through openings 36 and 37 in the upper plate 30. The upper ends of these rods are threaded as at 38 and 39. These threaded portions are arranged to receive wingnuts 40 and 41 which wingnuts constitute part of an adjusting means. In this regard, it will be noted that the rods include spring stops such as indicated at 42 and 43 for cradling the first ends of compression springs 44 and 45. The other ends of these springs engage the underside of the top plate 30 to urge the plate generally upwardly. It will be clear, accordingly, that by threading down on the wingnuts, such as 40 and 41, the distance between the top plate 30 and the lower plate 26 may be varied.

Preferably, the plates are adjusted such that the lower and upper rollers are spaced so that their peripheral portions are in light engagement with each other. Any strips such as the strip 19 illustrated in FIG. 4, fed between the rollers can then be frictionally urged in a longitudinal direction upon rotation of the rollers.

In FIG. 4, the lower roller is shown as supported by upwardly turned end flanges one of which is designated F1, and the upper roller is shown as supported by downwardly turned end flanges one of which is designated F2.

In operation, various strips such as the strips 16 through 19 have their free ends fed between the rollers from the supply reels 22 and through 25 respectively. The strips are then positioned in the initial portions of the various channels in the chain link fence 10. In this regard, the plane of the strips corresponds with the plane of the fence so that a plurality of strips may be fed simultaneously into the channels defined by the wire mesh of the fence. In using the particular apparatus of FIG. 3, the strips are inserted in the chain link fence during the manufacture of the fence or at a plant to provide prefabricated fencing. Thus, large sections of the chain link fence may be properly positioned for receiving several strips at one time from between the rollers of the inserting apparatus.

With the initially free ends of the strips inserted in various channels in the fence, starting of the motor 28 will cause a feeding of the strips into the channels to take place and this feeding will be continuous and at a fairly constant speed.

After strips of length corresponding to the length of the section of chain link fence have been inserted, their ends can be severed and a new set of strips inserted in the next adjacent channels. Towards'this end, the entire mounting apparatus including the reels carried by the apparatus is moved transversely on the track 29 to a new position substantially equal to the distance between two adjacent channels The next plurality of strips are then inserted and the process repeated until all of the channels of the fence have been completely filled with the strips.

As mentioned heretofore, the various supply reels may be immediately adjacent to each other so that adjacent channels in the fence are filled simultaneously. In this case, after such channels have been filled, the entire mounting apparatus would be moved over a distance equal to that necessary to select a next group of adjacent channels for reception of the strips.

proximately equal frictional pressure t'o be exerted on each of the strips so that uniformity in feeding of a plurality of strips simultaneously results.

While not essential, the method of inserting the strips as:

described may be facilitated by clipping the initial end corner of each strip before positioning this end in the channel preparatory to feeding the strip into the channel. Such cuts may be made as indicated at a and b for the strip 19 as shown in FIG. I. The resulting taper facilitates movement of the strip through the channel.

Alternatively, a thin metal sheath having a pointed end may be slipped over the end of the strips to guide the strip through the channel. Such a sheath is indicated at c in FIG. 3 on the end of the strip 16.

From the foregoing description, it will be evident that the present invention has thus provided a novel method and apparatus for inserting strips in chain link fences wherein the various objects set forth are fully realized.

What I claim is:

1. An apparatus for inserting elongated thin strips of material in a chain link fence comprising, in combination: first and second rollers elongated in axial directions; mounting means rotatably supporting said rollers with their axes in parallel spaced relationship such that their peripheries are in engagement, the periphery of at least one of said rollers being of a resilient material such that it may be pressed radially inwardly to accommodate'a plurality of said strips in side-by-side parallel relationship passing between said rollers in a direction nor mal to said axes, and exert a frictional force on the surfaces of said strips; motor means for rotating at least one of said rollers to thereby feed said strips from between said rollers in a direction for reception into a number of parallel channels defined by the wire mesh of said chain link fence, said mounting means including adjusting means for varying the spacing between the axes of said rollers whereby the frictional force of engagement of said rollers with said strips may be adjusted; and track means running parallel to said axes for movably supporting said mounting means for side-to-side movement in directions normal to the directions in which said strips are fed, whereby further channels in said chain link fence adjacent to channels already filled with strips may receive additional strips fed by said rollers after moving said mounting means on said track means to a position for feeding such additional strips into said further channels.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, including supply reels for supplying said strips mounted for free rotation to the rear of said mounting means.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, including a thin metal sheath having a pointed configuration receivable on the end of said strip initially fed into said channel for guiding said strip through said channel. I

4. An apparatus for inserting elongated thin strips of material in a chain link fence comprising, in combination: first and second rollers elongated in axial directions; mounting means rotatably supporting said rollers with their axes in parallel spaced relationship such that their peripheries are in engagement, the periphery of at least one of said rollers being of resilient material such that it may be pressed radially inwardly to accommodate a plurality of said strips in side-by-side parallel relationship passing between said rollers in a direction normal to said axes, and exert a frictional force on the surfaces of said strips; and motor means for rotating at least one of said ing means including a lower plate having upturned end flanges rotatably supporting one of said rollers; an upper plate having 'downturned end flanges rotatably supporting the other of said rollers; vertical rods secured to said lower plate and extending upwardly through openings in said upper plate and having their upper ends threaded; and compression springs engaging intermediate portions of said rods between said plates at first ends and engaging the undersides of said upper plate at second ends to hold said upper plate in spaced parallel relationship to said lower plate and position said rollers with their peripheries said lower plate whereby the frictional force of engagement of said rollers with said strips may be adjusted. 

1. An apparatus for inserting elongated thin strips of material in a chain link fence comprising, in combination: first and second rollers elongated in axial directions; mounting means rotatably supporting said rollers with their axes in parallel spaced relationship such that their peripheries are in engagement, the periphery of at least one of said rollers being of resilient material such that it may be pressed radially inwardly to accommodate a plurality of said strips in side-byside parallel relationship passing between said rollers in a direction normal to said axes, and exert a frictional force on the surfaces of said strips; motor means for rotating at least one of said rollers to thereby feed said strips from between said rollers in a direction for reception into a number of parallel channels defined by the wire mesh of said chain link fence, said mounting means including adjusting means for varying the spacing between the axes of said rollers whereby the frictional force of engagement of said rollers with said strips may be adjusted; And track means running parallel to said axes for movably supporting said mounting means for side-to-side movement in directions normal to the directions in which said strips are fed, whereby further channels in said chain link fence adjacent to channels already filled with strips may receive additional strips fed by said rollers after moving said mounting means on said track means to a position for feeding such additional strips into said further channels.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, including supply reels for supplying said strips mounted for free rotation to the rear of said mounting means.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 1, including a thin metal sheath having a pointed configuration receivable on the end of said strip initially fed into said channel for guiding said strip through said channel.
 4. An apparatus for inserting elongated thin strips of material in a chain link fence comprising, in combination: first and second rollers elongated in axial directions; mounting means rotatably supporting said rollers with their axes in parallel spaced relationship such that their peripheries are in engagement, the periphery of at least one of said rollers being of resilient material such that it may be pressed radially inwardly to accommodate a plurality of said strips in side-by-side parallel relationship passing between said rollers in a direction normal to said axes, and exert a frictional force on the surfaces of said strips; and motor means for rotating at least one of said rollers to thereby feed said strips from between said rollers in a direction for reception into a number of parallel channels defined by the wire mesh of said chain link fence, said mounting means including a lower plate having upturned end flanges rotatably supporting one of said rollers; an upper plate having downturned end flanges rotatably supporting the other of said rollers; vertical rods secured to said lower plate and extending upwardly through openings in said upper plate and having their upper ends threaded; and compression springs engaging intermediate portions of said rods between said plates at first ends and engaging the undersides of said upper plate at second ends to hold said upper plate in spaced parallel relationship to said lower plate and position said rollers with their peripheries in engagement; and adjusting means comprising wingnuts threadedly received on the upper ends of said rods such that threading down of said nuts moves said upper plate closer to said lower plate whereby the frictional force of engagement of said rollers with said strips may be adjusted. 